Lionel Messi by numbers: statistics that show the Barcelona forward is on a different level to any of his peers

Lionel Messi became the first player to score five goals in a Champions League
match when he cut through the Bayer Leverkusen defence at will last night,
moving him to within seven goals of the all time scoring record at then Nou
Camp. He is 24-years-old.

Numbers game: Lionel Messi continues to set new standards for both Barcelona and ArgentinaPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

As well as being the first five-goasl haul in the competition, it was also the first time Messi had registered as many goals in a single game in his career. He had previously scored four in a game in the Champions League (v Arsenal), one hat-trick (v Viktoria Plzen) and nine pairs.

Messi has now reached a quarter of a century of goals when you take in to account all his first team matches for Barcelona and Argentina. The fifth goal of his record making haul last night was his 250th in just 378 games for club and country.

&lt;noframes&gt;Interactive chart: Lionel Messi's record in La Liga and Champions League &lt;/noframes&gt;

Following on from a hat-trick in Argentina's recent friendly win over Switzerland, he has now scored three or more goals eight times this season alone.

With 49 goals (in 64 games), Messi is the fourth top scorer in the history of the Champions League (since 1992/93), behind Raul (71), Van Nistelrooy (56) & Thierry Henry (50).

Since his goal in the 2009 final, Messi has scored 33 goals in 30 Champions League starts. It had been a year since he last scored at Camp Nou in the competition (3-1 v Arsenal, 8 March 2011).

The Argentine had seven shots against Leverkusen, six of them on target.

Perhaps even more impressively Messi has managed to find the net 49 times in just 53 games for Barca this season to take him within seven goals of becoming the club's all-time leading scorer, the 235 recorded by César Rodríguez between 1942 and 1955